Infant stuck inside the car - dead 12V battery

[Tomatoboy]

I guess that explains why Ford can't alert drivers of a failing battery. Apparently the technology is not here yet to determine the state of the LVB. ICE cars win again, their batteries can be tested.

AGM batteries like the one used in the Mach-E are also used in ICE vehicles. AGM and lead acid batteries in general can pass tests one day and be dead the next day, too. It just takes an internal short developing suddenly. This battery concern isn’t unique to EVs, some ICE vehicles even use similar door devices (Lincoln Aviator, for example), its unique to the vehicles with this door design. That said, there is more Ford’s software engineers could have done to warn an owner of a battery that shows what signs of failure that can be detected in vehicle.

Sponsored

 

[Space_Pony]

AGM batteries like the one used in the Mach-E are also used in ICE vehicles. AGM and lead acid batteries in general can pass tests one day and be dead the next day, too. It just takes an internal short developing suddenly. This battery concern isn’t unique to EVs, some ICE vehicles even use similar door devices (Lincoln Aviator, for example), its unique to the vehicles with this door design. That said, there is more Ford’s software engineers could have done to warn an owner of a battery that shows what signs of failure that can be detected in vehicle.

I guess I don't need to be concerned then. I've got 10+ year old batteries in my trucks.

 

[markboris]

I've had my battery disconnected many times working on projects (for days sometimes) and I can always open any door at least 10 times (never counted). I'm guessing the issue here is because the car was locked when the battery went dead that no one could get in? I've never tried that but see it could happen.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I wonder how difficult it would be to add some 12V jump points inside the charge port area. Since the charge port door doesn't lock, you would always be able to apply power to the car.

To fit in that small of an area, the jump points could not carry enough current to bootstrap the various systems in the car. It would be stuck in a boot failure loop and the 12V would not charge due to the car yanking the current away, I mean, I *could* have mounted my 12V jump point (which can carry more than enough current to spin a high-compression monster motor) in an externally-accessible place but it would be either ugly or not easy to access and quite possibly unsafe. ??

This wouldn look very good mounted on the fender. ??

 

[GreaseMonkey]

I've had my battery disconnected many times working on projects (for days sometimes) and I can always open any door at least 10 times (never counted). I'm guessing the issue here is because the car was locked when the battery went dead that no one could get in? I've never tried that but see it could happen.

There was a ford video that claimed you can open each door 20 times.

 

[Sikkun]

I guess that explains why Ford can't alert drivers of a failing battery. Apparently the technology is not here yet to determine the state of the LVB. ICE cars win again, their batteries can be tested.

I have taken a ICE battery to Autozone 4 different times in my life to be tested after needed to jump it. All four times it tested “good”, I charged it up and drove home.

All great, until they died again within the next week. I guess shame on me for believing those test 4 times…but at some point, if you need to jump your battery, it’s probably not good.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I've had my battery disconnected many times working on projects (for days sometimes) and I can always open any door at least 10 times (never counted). I'm guessing the issue here is because the car was locked when the battery went dead that no one could get in? I've never tried that but see it could happen.

Correct, it’s sort of the combination of having the doors locked and the 12V dying at just the wrong time. Anybody inside that could pull the handle would have been able to get out, even in the back. Just not a poor infant.

 

[SonicBlue]

I really don't understand the reasoning behind no physical lock access at all.

It saved Ford money and they never anticipated this problem. In fact they bragged about the days of surprise dead batteries being a thing of the past due to the the HVB keeping the LVB topped off. This is the same reason they made the LVB so difficult to access.

Again, I feel compelled to add this to every thread on this issue…

THIS is the HUBRIS that led to the design flaws with the LVB.

 

[SonicBlue]

The owner also seems mostly concerned with getting reimbursement from Ford, compared to fixing design flaws. They are claiming design flaws, instead of bad luck, because that's how to get money out of Ford. Sympathy decreased.

Wut? Shit happens. That doesn’t change or excuse the fact that design flaws can make your day a whole lot worse when bad luck strikes. In this case, there are MANY design flaws with respect to this battery. I listed six of them earlier in this thread.

 

[ipca204]

Correct, it’s sort of the combination of having the doors locked and the 12V dying at just the wrong time. Anybody inside that could pull the handle would have been able to get out, even in the back. Just not a poor infant.

or even a rich infant, if they can't reach the handle!

 

[Space_Pony]

or even a rich infant, if they can't reach the handle!

A rich infant would get rid of this car and try a different one. Infants are never happy.

 

[Jimrpa]

It saved Ford money and they never anticipated this problem. In fact they bragged about the days of surprise dead batteries being a thing of the past due to the the HVB keeping the LVB topped off. This is the same reason they made the LVB so difficult to access.

Again, I feel compelled to add this to every thread on this issue…

THIS is the HUBRIS that led to the design flaws with the LVB.

“It even tells you it is charging in the FordPass app.” Oh really? Do tell! Just where is this hidden nugget of 12V battery charging status hidden in the FordPass app? Perhaps with the mythical climate controls?

 

[Maui]

“It even tells you it is charging in the FordPass app.” Oh really? Do tell! Just where is this hidden nugget of 12V battery charging status hidden in the FordPass app? Perhaps with the mythical climate controls?

I am guessing another feature that was lost in the re-write. Though I wonder if it is available in the JSON blobs that come down. I've heard there are accessible APIs that you used to be able to get access to, are these still available for end-users?

 

[Tomatoboy]

“It even tells you it is charging in the FordPass app.” Oh really? Do tell! Just where is this hidden nugget of 12V battery charging status hidden in the FordPass app? Perhaps with the mythical climate controls?

Right!?

 

[Scarpia]

THIS is the HUBRIS that led to the design flaws with the LVB.

Hardly. He was bragging about something he obviously did not know was poorly designed. That was nothing more than touting what he (and presumably the design team) believed to be a cool feature of the car.

That did not "lead to the design flaws".

Sponsored